Random Oneshots
by Cassie Bones
Summary: Just a few random oneshots to help me with my occasional Writer's Block
1. Halloween

**Okay, so I have been having a lot of Writer's Block lately, and my low self-esteem makes me believe that everything I write is crap, even if I publish it. So I decided that a little exercise might help me get out of my funk, so I am going to be writing a bunch of random one shots every time I feel I need a little boost. This will not keep me from continuing my stories, but will, in fact, help me to update sooner and more efficiently. Enjoy!**

_**Halloween 2014**_

"Daddy! Daddy, look! RAWR!" 2 ½ - year-old Christine Angela Booth called out to her father. She was dressed in a little green dragon costume she'd picked out all on her own, to her own pride,that glowed in the dark and had a hood made to look as if it were the dragon's head.

Her father, Special Agent Seeley J. Booth thought she couldn't look any cuter if she tried. Her mother had pulled her long brown hair into two pigtails with matching green bows and had tailored the lizard tail in the back so that it didn't drag but so that their daughter could still swish it around in the air, which she was doing with her best friend, three-year-old Michael Vincent Hodgins, who was dressed as…

"What is he again?" Booth asked his partner, Temperance Brennan, the mother of his child, who was putting the finishing touches on her own costume.

"A toad, I think," she replied, "that's what Angela said." Booth nodded and waved to the toddlers, who were running around the dining room table, eager to go out trick-or-treating for their first real taste of candy. Though they'd been out in previous years (Christine as peas in a pod her first year, then a kitten last year, and Michael a pumpkin, then a puppy), they'd never been considered old enough for their own candy until this year, when both fathers had to beg their wives (or in Booth's case, 'romantic partner') in favor of their children.

Angela and Brennan finally relented and now the toddlers were as excited as their fathers were to get out there for their own candy.

Afterwards, the adults were going to head off to the Jeffersonian Halloween Ball, leaving the toddlers in the care of Booth's eldest, Parker Booth, who'd recently turned fifteen, and was going out with his friends, but would be back in plenty of time to watch the kids for the rest of the night.

Dragon Christine chased froggy Michael around in circles, making rawr-ing noises at him the entire time until Michael ran to hide behind his mother's legs.

"Hey!" Christine whined, "That's cheating!"

Michael popped his head out from behind Angela's legs. "It is not!" he argued.

"Yes, it is!" he argued back, sticking his tongue out at her.

Christine growled and pulled on her hood, making her hands into small claws and running at him again.

Michael yelped and ran from the safety of his mother's legs towards his father.

"Daaaaaddy!" he yelped, jumping into his father's waiting arms. Jack Hodgins picked up his son and raised him above his head, settling him on his shoulders.

"What's up, Toady?" he asked, playfully.

Michael pointed at Christine, who was now jumping and swinging at him with imaginary claws and chomping at the air with imaginary fangs. Hodgins laughed at his little 'niece', thinking about how much she looked like Brennan, but how much she acted like Booth. Though she had Brennan's intelligence, no doubt.

"Hey, Booth!" Hodgins called over to the FBI man, dressed once again as a nerd. He turned immediately at his friend's voice. Jack pointed to the little dragon girl attempting to sprout wings at his feet and Booth chuckled, walking calmly over to his baby girl and picking her up off the floor with ease, laughing as she wiggled in his arms.

"Daddy!" she whined, "Lemme go!" Booth chuckled; she sounded just like her mother. Without letting her go (or dropping her like he feared he would) he place her on his own shoulders and gave Hodgins an evil smile, the same one, Hodgins noticed, that his daughter just seconds later echoed as she herself realized what was about to happen. Hodgins's eyes widened.

"Oh, no…Booth, you wouldn't…" Booth's smile grew and Hodgins took a step back in horror.

"Charge!" Christine giggled, and Booth and Hodgins both took off, Booth giving Hodgins a little leeway as they jogged lightly around the house, holding on to their children's feet, as they giggled and bounced on their fathers' shoulders.

Angela and Brennan watched this from the hallway mirror with barely amused expressions. Angela rolled her eyes.

"_Men_," she sighed. Brennan nodded in agreement.

"I find Booth can be very childish, sometimes," she said, spritzing on perfume to complete her librarian look (she had put the Wonder Woman costume to rest in favor of a personal request from Booth; she had some inference that his request was purely sexual, but she found it appropriate for trick-or-treating with her toddler daughter, especially since Booth had volunteered to bring Christine to the door so she could have more quality time with Angela), "especially where Christine is concerned."

Angela chuckled. "_All _men are childish, Sweetie," she said, smiling, "sometimes, it just takes the comparison to actual children to see that."

Brennan chuckled and nodded. "So, what are you again?" she asked, looking at the square box that encased Angela's body.

Angela smiled brightly. "I'm an oven!" she said, spinning around, "You know, 'cause Hodgie and I are having another baby?" At her friend's blank stare, Angela laughed. "'Bun in the oven' is a colloquialism for pregnancy. Hodgins is a baker and we wanted Michael Vincent to be a little loaf of bread, but he wanted to be the toad thingy so we' just gonna let everybody figure it out on their own."

Brennan nodded. "That's very creative, Angela."

Angela smiled. "Yeah, well, what am I, if not creative?"

Both women laughed as they put on their coats (Angela had a shawl since her coat didn't fit over the oven) and called for their husbands/partners. Both men popped their heads in from the kitchen, their respective children on the other's back.

Angela lifted a brow. "How the hell did _that_ happen?"

The men looked at each other, then the toddler on either one's back.

"I don't really know…" Hodgins answered first.

Booth shrugged. "We ready to go yet?"

Brennan smiled at him and nodded as he took Michael off his shoulders and set the little boy down with a pat on his head. Hodgins did the same with a kiss to Christine's cheek, and the little girl chased the boy all the way to their mothers, who each took their kids into their arms as they waited for their partners to gather the pillowcases that would act as candy bags. Both women's eyebrows rose as they each held two.

Hodgins smiled, coyly. "Well, you didn't think I was gonna pass up free candy," Angela's eyes narrowed, "for my beautiful pregnant wife, did you?" He raced to finish the last bit and Angela responded with a roll of her eyes.

"And you, Booth?" Brennan asked, one hand on her hip.

Booth swallowed. "Um…w-well, you know, P-Parker can't go tonight, s-so I thought I'd get h-him a little something. You know? Just to be f-fair…"

Brennan nodded, only half-accepting this, but not wanting to argue as she noticed the sun was beginning to set. She wanted to get the trick-or-treating done as soon as possible. "Whatever you say, Booth," she said, "let's just go."

"Trick-or-treating?" Christine asked, her blue eyes lighting up, brilliantly and the Booth signature charm smile gracing her features.

Brennan smiled back at her; she really couldn't look more like Booth if she tried. Brennan nuzzled her nose. She had to talk to Booth about making another baby. "Yes, Christine. We're going trick-or-treating. Are you excited?"

Christine nodded, vigorously, pulling her hood on and growling at her mother. Brennan growled playfully back, before turning back to the group of friends. "Ready to go?" she asked.

All nodded and Angela put Michael on the floor so he could grab his pillowcase and hold her hand. Brennan followed and soon they were walking out the door, joining the other kids on the block in trick-or-treating on the scariest night of the year.

**REVIEWS are much appreciated!**


	2. Reunion

**Okay, so my Writer's Block is still hitting me hard, so I've decided to make another one shot. This one is what I think will happen when Brennan is finally proven innocent and able to return home, where she, Booth, and Christine will have their very heartfelt family reunion. So…enjoy!**

**Reunion**

Booth and Hacker stood at opposite sides of the break room, Hacker munching on an energy bar while Booth attempted to wake up with his third cup of coffee.

He'd been sleeping at the office, on his couch, since Brennan had left with Christine. At first, it was only because the FBI had closed off his home, not even allowing him the chance to gather up his clothes before sweeping the house for evidence pertaining to where Brennan might have gone. Booth had both hoped and feared that they would find something that may have just hinted where she was, but that wasn't the case at all.

Max, the skillful escapist that he was, left no evidence that would point them in Brennan's direction. He did, however, plant a few dead ends that preoccupied the FBI techs long enough that by the time they caught on, Brennan and Christine were already long gone. They could've left the country for all they knew. But still the search went on.

As did the case that got Brennan and Booth into this situation in the first place. Angela, as far as Booth knew, was still hard at work breaking down Ethan's code, while Hodgins obsessed over soil samples he might have overlooked, and Cam continued to do her job and appointed Clark Edison as her replacement Anthropologist, trying to ignore Angela's illegal involvement in the case for as long as she kept it under wraps.

Sweets helped as often as he could, using each new piece of information to help further profile the killer and finding that it matched Pelant more and more, but also circumstantially matched Brennan, which did not help their case at all.

Booth, meanwhile, was given more cases to fill his time and often took one of the squints or Agent Shaw with him in the field, but his mind was occupied by thoughts of his little girl and her mother and where they might be…

He couldn't sleep in their bed, nor could he go anywhere near the house, in general. After the FBI had allowed him to return, he'd tried to sleep in the guest room, but there was no point. The house was just too quiet, too empty, too…wrong. So he packed. He packed everything he could fit into one suitcase and his gym bag, then emptied the fridge of all perishables and brought it all over to the Hoover, labeling everything that was his and putting it all in the break room fridge, before setting up his couch to sleep on.

It was the couch Brennan had insisted he put in there, too. Right along with the little playpen for when he brought Christine with him to work, which had happened only once or twice before they left. All his daughter's toys still littered the space as he refused to put them away in her play bin. He even began carrying her favorite, a small purple elephant he'd bought to piss off Brennan, around in his suit coat.

Booth held the elephant in his hand now, turning it over on the table in front of him, remembering how Christine had nibbled endlessly on its trunk, smiling up at him and giggling, her brilliant blue eyes shining in amusement. Booth sighed, running his finger over the faint tooth mark on the trunk. Christine's first tooth had just started coming in before they left. God knows how many she had now.

Booth was taken out of his thoughts by the ringing of a cell phone. He dropped the elephant on the table and reached into his pants pocket when he realized it was his. He didn't even look at the caller ID before answering.

"Booth." He said, gruffly, still tired from another sleepless, painful night on his office couch. It was now three months he was sleeping in his office, and each and every night was Hell on Earth.

"Seeley!" Max's rough voice crackled over the phone excitedly, causing Booth to perk up. Before he could ask about Brennan or Christine, though, Max continued talking, "They did it! Your team-they cracked the code. Pelant's been arrested. Temperance is on her way home! They're back, Seeley! Your family is back!"

Booth didn't even take a moment to respond. He just jumped up, dropped his cell phone into his pocket and put the purple elephant back in its place and looked over at Hacker. "She's back…" he said, just as Hacker's cell phone rang to confirm what Max had said.

Hacker nodded and answered his phone, his eyes widening as he listened to the person on the other line. Booth, however, didn't wait for him to say anything. He just ran out of the room, straight towards home.

**-x-**

Brennan stepped cautiously into the quite house. It was the middle of the day; anybody could see her. What if this was all a trap to lure her in? What if they didn't really catch Pelant? What if-

Brennan shook her head, focusing instead on the child in her arms, looking up at her curiously with those brilliant blue eyes. Christine had gotten so big in the last three months. She had at least a dozen baby teeth now, and her head was full of short dark brown hair, while her eye brows remained a few shades lighter. She could also hold her head up all by herself and crawl now, which Brennan caught on tape for Booth to watch later. She was also starting to wean Christine off breast milk, much to the infant's displeasure. There was also one more advancement that she was eager to share with Booth, but as she walked further, it appeared he wasn't home. She hoped her father had gotten in touch with him and he was heading there right now.

Looking in the mirror, she wondered if he wouldn't mind the changes she'd made to her appearance. They weren't so different, after all. She'd dyed her hair darker, nearly jet black and had a pair of brown contact lenses in to further disguise her. As well as a fake beauty spot on her cheek. But she had refused to change anything about Christine; the baby was changing before her very eyes, anyhow. The only thing about her that needed to be changed was her diaper.

Brennan smiled down at the little girl. "Do you need to be changed?" she cooed.

The baby giggled and reached up for her mother's hair. Brennan was about to bring her upstairs for a diaper change when she heard the front door open and a tentative voice call out that froze her heart.

"Bones?"

Brennan nearly broke down in tears. Nobody had called her that in three months now and hearing it coming from his lips was like coming home all over again.

She turned towards the doorway to the kitchen, where she was standing. "Booth?" she called back, her voice wavering slightly. How would he react to seeing them again? Would he be angry? Would he break up with her? Would he take Christine from her? Would he-

Booth's face appeared in a flash and the next thing she knew he'd crossed the threshold and was holding her to him. Brennan wrapped her free arm, the one not holding their daughter, around his waist and buried her nose in the crook of his neck. Booth pulled back just far enough to pepper both heads with kisses, before tilting Brennan's chin up for a knee-shattering kiss that left her breathless and much more dependent on him to hold her up.

When he finally released her lips, he was looking down at her with all the love and devotion he'd ever had for her. Brennan's eyes immediately welled with tears.

"Booth, I-" he cut her off with a sweet kiss.

"Shh," he whispered in her ear, "I know, Bones. I know. I-I understand."

"D-do you forgive me?" she asked, in a small voice.

Booth took a deep breath and shook his head. "No," he said, "not yet."

"Will you be able to?"

"I think so. I just…I need some time."

"Do you need time _and_ space?" Brennan asked, only half-joking.

Booth grinned. "No. Just some time. I never want to be away from you two ever again. He leaned over and kissed his baby girl on the top of her head. "Wow, she got big," he said, caressing the little girl's cheek. She smiled at him; that same smile that her mother used to drive him wild.

Brennan nodded. "Yes. She grew three inches. She can now hold up her own head and crawl, and eat finger food. And she can do something else I think you'll enjoy."

Booth's gaze didn't waver from the baby. "Yeah? What's that?"

Brennan smiled and moved back, away from Booth. "Christine," she said, garnering the baby's attention, "who's that?" she asked, pointing at Booth. The little girl's eyes followed her finger to Booth's face. He smiled at her and waved.

Christine smiled. "Da!" she said, excitedly. "Dada!" She beamed up at her mother, who smiled back.

Brennan looked up at Booth, whose face was the picture of shock and awe.

"Did she-I mean, she just-didn't she?"

Brennan chuckled and nodded. "It's the only thing I've been able to get her to say since she started making sounds. I think it's because of all the pictures I've been showing her of you in the paper and on the news. I've also been telling her stories about you, calling you Daddy, which she seems to respond to. She has yet to say 'Mama'." At this, Brennan frowned, but Booth smiled, walking up to her and wrapping his arms around her once again.

"You've been telling her stories about me?" he asked, softly, nuzzling her ear.

Brennan nodded. "About our cases. I use third-person and I call everybody either Aunt or Uncle, even Clark and Wendell and them. But for us, I use Mommy and Daddy. The only word she seems to have latched on to is Dada." Again, she pouted and Booth kissed it away, just holding them both in arms for a second, before taking a deep breath and making a face.

"Eew! Bones, when was the last time her diaper was changed?"

Brennan chuckled. "About three hours and nearly a hundred fifty miles ago. I was about to go change her when you walked in. I think I should do so now, though."

Booth shook his head and plucked the little girl from her arms, raising her above his head so that she giggled. "Allow me," he said, bringing the child back down so he could plant a kiss on her cheek.

Brennan watched as he gently cradled the baby in his arms, as if she could disappear at any moment, as he walked up the stairs.

She sighed, her thoughts going to what she must have put him through these last few months. The house looked as if it hadn't been touched since she left, apart from a few misplaced things she assumed the FBI techs had moved when they undoubtedly searched their home for clues as to where she might have gone.

Thankfully, Max had left them dead-end clues that kept Brennan and Christine safe and out of the law's eye.

Brennan walked over to look in the fridge for something to eat; they hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning, where Brennan had received the call from Max telling her she could go home. She had left her food half-eaten, and a fifty to cover everything, though it was far too much.

It was empty. Booth must have emptied it out a long time ago. Had he even slept here while she was gone? She couldn't help but wonder.

Her daughter's excited giggles broke her from her reverie. She turned just in time to see Booth walk in with Christine's belly to his lips, blowing raspberries on her bellybutton, while she squealed, adorably.

Booth chuckled, kissing her cheek, before pulling down the baby's shirt and resting her on his chest. She immediately bunched up his jacket in her hand and closed her eyes, her excitement dying down.

Booth breathed in her fresh baby scent and smiled over at Brennan who smiled back from the open fridge. Booth frowned, thoughtfully.

"Oh, yeah," he said, "I have to refill the fridge, don't I? I haven't been here in a while."

"How come?" Brennan asked.

"You know how come," Booth responded, firmly. Brennan looked away. "Hey, Bones, come on," Booth said, walking over and taking her hand, "let's take Christine out for breakfast, huh? Then we can go grocery shopping later."

Brennan nodded, smiling. "I'd like that. Diner alright? Can we invite Hodgins and Angela and-"

"Anybody you like." Booth said, squeezing her hand. "As long as the three of us are there together."

Brennan smiled, then reached up to kiss him. "I love you, Booth," she said, softly.

Booth smiled. "I love you, too, Bones. Now, let's go." Brennan grabbed the baby bag and they started out, but Booth stopped at the doorway and reached into his jacket pocket. "I almost forgot." He pulled out Christine's purple elephant and handed it to Christine, who squealed in delight. "There," he said, grinning, "_now_ we're home." Brennan laughed and rolled her eyes, allowing him to guide her out with his hand on the small of her back.

**REVIEW!**


	3. Rain

**It's raining in my town today, so inspiration has literally washed right over me and I really can't get this out of my head, so I'm going to update even though I don't really have much writer's block today! Enjoy!**

**Rain**

Brennan was typing furiously at her computer at the kitchen table, attempting to occupy her mind while she waited for the roast to finish cooking. She was right in the middle of naming the murderer in her latest Kathy Reichs crime novel, when there was a knock at the door.

Brennan nearly jumped out of skin. Booth wasn't home with Christine yet so she'd followed his rule and locked both the front and back doors, and she had all the windows in the house closed and locked as well due to the thunderous rain that continued to pour outside. Still, she felt strangely on edge since she was encased mostly in darkness, save for the single lightbulb glowing from the oven and the light shining in the front hall. But she needed the dim lighting to stay relaxed while writing.

Brennan stood and walked slowly to the door, checking the peephole before turning the knob, becoming confused at what she saw. Quickly, she unlocked and threw open the door, catching the brown-eyed gaze on the other side…

…which was all she could really see of her partner's face, considering it was completely covered in mud and muck, as was the little bundle he held in his arms, their two-year-old daughter, Christine Angela Booth.

Christine was absolutely _covered _in mud, from head to toe, much more that her father, whose face and torso were partially brown from holding the struggling toddler, whose only visible features were the pair of crystal blue eyes she had inherited from her mother and the devilish smile she got from her father.

"Mommy!" she squealed, reaching out for Brennan. Brennan smiled and reached out to take her into her own arms but Booth pulled her back.

"Oh, no you don't!" he said, turning the little girl so that she was looking into his stern and slightly angry face. "_You_ are going straight upstairs and taking a bath."

Christine pouted. "Noooooo! No bath, Daddy!" she whined, kicking her legs out.

"Yes, bath," Brennan agreed, "just let me go get some towels to lay on the floor so you don't track any mud in the house." She rushed off to find them, while Booth stayed back, attempting to keep the little girl, who was well into her terrible twos, still.

When Brennan returned, she handed Booth a towel to wrap their daughter in, then put one on the floor for him to wipe his feet on and discard his shoes into, before putting the tightly bundled Christine under his arm and making his way up the stairs, to the bathroom.

Brennan watched them with a crooked smile, before returning to the kitchen to check on the roast.

**-x-**

Nearly an hour later, Brennan was greeted by the sensation of two little arms wrapped around her legs from behind. She turned and smile at the little girl she'd created just a few short years ago, before leaning down to pick her up. She was completely clean now, and her normally fair skin was tinged pink from all the scrubbing her father had to do to get the mud off of her. Her brown hair was no longer clumped with dirt and was pulled into two adorable, slightly tangled, pigtails on top of her head. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes were still as crystal blue as ever. Booth had dressed her in her favorite footie pajamas, black with the entire skeletal system on them, except for the head, of course, and she seemed more at ease now that she was cleaned up.

Christine lay her head on her mother's chest, something she often did when Brennan had her in her arms, much to Brennan's pleasure, especially since she'd started doing it less and less as she got bigger and further into what Booth called her 'terrible twos', in which most children started misbehaving to start testing their boundaries, though Brennan doubted it was a real thing.

"Hi, there," Brennan cooed, swaying slightly as she stirred the mixed vegetables on the stove, "did you have a good bath."

Christine pouted. "No bath. Daddy gave me a _shower_." She spit the word out with disgust, making Brennan chuckle. "No like showers."

Brennan nodded. "I know, Honey, but they're much more hygienic. I don't think Daddy would have given you one if he didn't think about that."

"What does that word mean?" Christine asked.

Brennan knew exactly what word she was talking about. "Hygienic? It means healthy. No germs. You don't want to take a bath with germs, do you?" Christine shook her head. "I thought not. Is Daddy taking a shower, now?"

Christine shook her head. "He took one with me. He's cleaning the bath now."

Brennan nodded, adjusting Christine more firmly on her hip as she bent down to check on the roast. "Looks like dinner is almost done. Wanna set the table?"

Christine brightened and scrambled down from her mother's hip, rushing to the silverware drawer as Brennan took down the plates. She turned to help her daughter with the child-locked drawer, but gasped when she found that Christine already had it open and was pulling out three forks and three spoons. "Christine!" Christine looked up, curiously at her mother. Brennan sighed. "No knives. Let Daddy get those." Christine nodded and shut the drawer, before scrambling over to the table to set up the napkins and silverware. Brennan placed the plates on the table, allowing the little girl to spread them into the places as Brennan got the cups and placed them, too, on the table.

Brennan stared at her little girl, still only two years old, and wondered how she was already so smart and independent. She remembered joking with Booth when Christine was only a baby about how likely it was that she'd be a genius, just like her mother, but she was picturing the little girl being much older when her intelligence started coming out, not two-and-a-half. It had taken Booth _months_ to figure out the child-proofed drawers, where it took the two-year-old the same amount of time, but at a much younger age!

Brennan smiled, making a note to ask her father if her situation was the same when she was a toddler. Maybe she'd bloomed early, intellectually, as well.

She finished taking out and preparing the roast and vegetables onto separate platters and brought them over to the table, before returning to the fridge to get out her own special plate of eggplant that she'd prepared earlier. While that heated up, Brennan situated Christine on her booster seat at the table and cut her settled with a few pieces of roast and some vegetables, which Christine had somehow taken fondly to, much to Booth's surprise ("I _hated_ veggies as a kid!").

"Booth!" Brennan called, as she took out her eggplant and served it onto her own plate, "Dinner!"

Booth's quick footsteps thundered down upon them as he raced down the stairs and into the kitchen, reaching out to take his seat…

"Wait!" Brennan stopped him before he could sit. "Could you get the knives?"

Booth sighed and retrieved the knives from the drawer, handing her one and taking one for himself, before taking his seat. Brennan handed him his plate, filled with a slab of roast and a healthy serving of vegetables, before digging into her own food.

Booth, however, bowed his head, as did Christine, and he mumbled a quick grace and crossed himself, smiling as he watched his daughter do the same. She giggled at him and stuffed a pea into her mouth.

"So," he said, addressing Brennan, "how was your day, Bones?"

Brennan smiled at him and opened her mouth to answer, when suddenly the lights went off, just as a loud boom of thunder sounded.

"BOOM!" Christine echoed, before dissolving into a fit of giggles, while Booth and Brennan both stood and began searching for their emergency flashlights and candles.

When they were back in light, they both sat and smiled at each other across the table as their daughter echoed the booms created by the thunder and gazed dreamily at the flashes of lightning coming from outside. They struck up comfortable conversation, talking about how Christine got herself in her "muddy" situation from earlier and how their latest case was going, and when they ran out of things to talk about, they just watched their little girl marvel at the storm, both wishing silently for the rain never to end.


	4. School

**CANNOT GET THIS ONE OUT OF MY HEAD FOR THE LIFE OF ME AND BECAUSE OF IT I CANNOT SLEEP! Enjoy!**

**School**

"Michael! Be careful, Sweetie!" Angela called out to the raven-haired little boy as he raced towards the monkey bars with his best friend, four-year-old Christine Booth.

"Yes," Brennan called to her daughter, "you too, Christine!"

The two women were sitting at a picnic table at the children's park, watching their kids play while they had their lunches. It was a beautiful Thursday afternoon in mid-July and the women were talking about Angela's plans to enroll Michael in Georgetown Kindergarten in the upcoming Fall, since he was now of age and far too big for Preschool.

"So, what do you think?" Angela asked her best friend. "Think he's still too small?"

Though now five years old with the advanced mind that naturally came from having a computer-savvy mother and a genius father, Michael was still quite small for his age, shorter than even Christine, who was a good nine months younger than him and not quite old enough for Kindergarten herself.

Brennan shook her head. "No. I think he's definitely ready to start Kindergarten. I mean, you've already put him through two years of Preschool, which is recommended, and he definitely seems mature enough to handle a bigger class environment. I don't see why his size would matter. I'm sure there are plenty of other children his size that he could relate to. Why? Do you think he's not ready?"

Angela shrugged. "I dunno. He's just…he's growing up so fast, ya know? I mean, soon it's gonna be Katie going off to Kindergarten." She motioned towards the sleeping tot in the stroller next to them. "I don't know how Hodgins and I are gonna deal with it when they're going off to college." She sighed, and took a sip of her water.

Brennan nodded. "Yes, I understand. Booth and I have actually been considering starting Christine a bit early, as well."

"Really? Booth's okay with that?" Angela asked, with raised brows.

Brennan frowned. "Well, we haven't really _talked_ about it that much. It's just something I mentioned last night and he agreed."

"Wait. Was he half-asleep when he 'agreed', Sweetie?" Angela asked, half-laughing. Brennan's look said it all. "Sweetie, you have to really talk with him before making a decision like this. Booth might not want to start her in school this early, especially not since she's his little girl."

"I don't know what her gender has to do with it, but-"

"Oh, puh-lease! Sweetie, gender has everything to do with it! You see, I'm having a tough time with this because I'm a mom and that kid, right over there, he's my little boy, and I want him to stay like that. I want them _both _to stay like this. Forever. Until I'm dead. And a few years after that. But I know that's not going to happen. But a man sees his little boy and he just can't wait for the kid to grow up and become the man that he is, to teach him how to do manly things like shave and get girls. But with a baby girl, it's different. Every milestone for her is like a stake in the heart, because no Daddy likes seeing his little girl grow up. Trust me on this, Booth would rather Christine stay in Preschool for the rest of her life and stay that little, pig-tailed, chubby-cheeked girl for the rest of his life. So you have to talk seriously about this or else problems will arise. Trust me."

Brennan chuckled. "Booth is a bit more rational that you think, Angela. I'm sure this won't be a big deal at all to him. It's not too big of a change, anyway. The Kindergarten is only about two blocks away from the Preschool anyway. He won't make too much of a fuss."

Angela grinned. "Just watch, Sweetie. You'll see what I mean."

The two women continued to watch their children and wave to them for the better part of their lunch break, until they had to get them back to the Jeffersonian Summer Daycare, and get back to their own jobs.

**-x-**

Later that night, Brennan was setting out dishes for the Thai food Booth had promised to bring home while Christine watched Bunsen Jude on television in the living room, chanting along with Bunsen whenever he did one of his special experiments.

Then the door opened and Booth came in, carrying a bag of food in one hand and holding the door knob with the other. "I'm home!" he called and Christine immediately stood and ran over to him.

"Daddy!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around his legs. Booth smiled down at her and scooped her up with his free arm, carrying her on his hip into the kitchen and setting her down in her seat, kissing her forehead as he placed the bag on the table.

Brennan walked over to greet him with a sweet kiss of her own, before looking down at Christine. "Christine, do I still hear the television?"

Christine's eyes widened. "Oops! Sorry!" She scrambled down from her seat and ran back to the living room. As soon as she was out of the room, Brennan turned back to Booth.

"We have to talk," she whispered, "about enrolling Christine in Kindergarten."

Booth's eyes widened. "What? She's only four. She should be starting her second year of preschool this year."

Brennan rolled her eyes. "Booth, you and I both know that Christine is far too advanced for Preschool. She can already recite half of the periodic table as well as most of the bones in the human body. _And _she can already do basic math on her own. She should really be going into first grade, but they'd never allow that. I think she's plenty ready to start Kindergarten. Especially since Michael is starting this fall, as well. I think it'd be beneficial for her to start with him, this way she already has an established companion throughout her school years. Don't you agree?"

Booth shook his head. "No. She's too young, Bones. We can start her next year, when she's a bit older."

"But, why wait? She's definitely advanced enough to-"

"I don't care how advanced she is, Bones," Booth argued, "She's too young to start Kindergarten."

Just then, the girl in question popped her head into the kitchen. "I'm going to Kindergarten?" she asked, smiling excitedly. "With Mikey?"

Booth shook his head, but Brennan replied, "That's up to your father." Booth continued to shake his head, even as Christine walked up to him and took his hand into hers, squeezing and shaking it.

"Pleeeeeaaaaaase, Daddy! Pretty please! I really wanna go to school with Mikey! Please!" Booth refused to open his eyes, so she shook his hand even harder. "Please, please, please, please!" she let go of his hand and Booth automatically opened his eyes, his stomach clenching tightly as he saw her pouting up at him, her bottom lip jutting out a full inch and her crystal blue eyes shining. Were it not for her dark brown hair, she would be the spitting image of her mother, which made it that much harder to shake his head in earnest.

Then she started bouncing on the balls of her feet and pleading with him. "Please, Daddy! Pretty please! I _really _wanna go to Kindergarten! PLEASE?" She fixed him with that blue-eyed gaze and made her bottom lip jut out another inch and Booth began to feel his resolve slowly crumble. He sighed.

"Fine!" he said, his heart becoming lighter as he saw that adorable Boothy smile lighting up her face. "You can go to Kindergarten."

Christine threw herself at him and he caught her, bring her up so she could throw her arms around his neck. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're the best daddy in the whole wide world!" she squealed, burying her face into his chest.

Booth held her close, kissing her forehead. "And don't you forget it," he chuckled. Then he looked to Brennan. "You owe me," he mouthed. Brennan smiled and winked at him, spooning their food onto plates.

"Okay, now," she said, "time to eat."

Booth deposited the very excited little girl back in her chair and sat in his own, bowing his head for Grace, while Christine followed and Brennan watched. When they were done, all dug in.

**REVIEWS!**


	5. Tea Party

**Having a bout of Writer's Block again, and this has been bouncing around in my head for a while. Enjoy!**

**Tea Party**

Temperance Brennan was carrying far too much in her arms. She had case files, her dress back from the cleaner's, Christine's bunny that she left in her office weeks before, her usual afternoon cup of tea, and a pharmacy bag with her daughter's cough syrup. Not to mention her purse, into which she was currently digging through for her key to the Mighty Hut.

Booth had stayed home with six-year-old Christine, who was sick with a bad cough and cold, for the last two days so that Brennan could stay at work and help the Jeffersonian set up a new exhibit. They were finally done and Cam had told her she could return home early to be with her daughter. Brennan thanked her and left around noon to pick up Christine's medicine.

Christine had had a horrible reaction to the first batch they prescribed and they'd called the doctor to learn that she'd been given the wrong prescription, and the medicine they'd given her had penicillin, which Christine was highly allergic to. Dr. Frasier had profusely apologized and offered to pay for the new medicine herself. Brennan had thanked her with a slight bitterness to her tone, but had denied the doctor's offer, stating that she was more than capable of paying for her daughter's medication herself.

Booth had of course offered to pick up the medication for Christine but that would have meant bringing Christine out during her sickness and she preferred that the little girl stay in bed and since Max was visiting with Russ and Amy, him babysitting would not be an option. She assured Booth that she could handle it and even went by the cleaner's to pick up her dress and went through the Diner for her favorite tea, getting a cup for her daughter as well, and a coffee for Booth, both of which she was carrying carefully in a paper cup holding in one hand while she held the pharmacy bag between her teeth and swung the garment bag over her arm. Christine's bunny was shoved under her arm as she dug for her keys and finally emerged with them, shoving the key into the lock and opening the door.

"I'm home!" she called out, through her teeth. She heard music coming from upstairs and figured they couldn't hear her. Quickly, she set down her purse on the table, and slung the garment bag over the back of a chair, and took the pharmacy bag from between her teeth, taking out the medicine and putting the tiny bottle in the pocket of her trench coat. Then she picked up the cup holder and made her way up the stairs.

She could hear Christine chattering away between coughs and Booth's laughs and replies as he listened, intently. Brennan smiled, just hearing them, especially when she heard Christine's voice get deeper; apparently they were also playing with her toys.

Brennan had walked in on Booth engaging Christine in playtime a few times before, mostly with Barbies and stuffed animals, which he played his voice to make funny noises for. Christine always tried to imitate this and often made herself burst into fits of giggles.

Brennan wondered what they must be up to now. Without knocking, she opened Christine's door and very nearly dropped the tea when she saw Booth, her very manly, ruggedly handsome partner, who spent his weekends playing Hockey and taking down suspects for a living, sitting there, at Christine's play table, wearing a feathery pink tiara and the tutu Brennan had received when she was on Bunsen Jude's Science Show. Booth's eyes widened when he saw her standing there, and his hand froze with a play teacup raised to his lips, pinky up in the air politely. A blush spread over his features but he still didn't move. Not even as Brennan's hand reached into her pocket, retrieved her cell phone and raised it in front of her, taking a photo of him with a quick flash and a grin.

Booth's eyebrows sunk down until his eyes were half-lidded in annoyance and he placed the teacup down with a sigh. "Was that really necessary, Bones?"

Brennan's grin widened. "I believe so," she retorted, before turning to Christine, who was beginning to look a bit better, even though her nose was still running and her eyes were still puffy. She no longer looked sluggish and the color was returning to her features. Brennan estimated that she would be back in school the following Monday. "How are you feeling, Christine?" she asked, kneeling next to her daughter, placing the cup holder on the table, and kissing her forehead to take her temperature. Her fever must have broken a while ago.

Christine smiled, her blue eyes shining despite their puffiness. "I feel much better, Mommy! Daddy and I are having a tea party! I wanted Zach to come too, but Daddy says he hasta sleep. You wanna come to our tea party?"

Brennan chuckled, stroking her daughter's cheek. "Of course, Honey. I even have some tea with me." She handed Christine her small tea and the little girl smiled.

"With milk and honey?"

"Of course," Brennan replied, kissing her forehead again, and reaching back into her pocket, this time for the cough syrup. "But first, you need to take your medicine. Okay?"

Christine nodded and Brennan poured the recommended dose into the cap and handed it to her. "Drink it all down." Christine nodded and sipped it all, before handing it back to Brennan, who smiled and kissed her once more before standing.

"The small cup is for you, and Booth, I got you a coffee. Unless, of course, you prefer your invisible tea?" Christine giggled and Booth glared at her.

"Ha ha, Bones, very funny," he grumbled as he grabbed his coffee from the cup holder and handed Christine her tea.

Brennan smiled at him. "I am quite humorous, actually." She said, before making her way back downstairs to wash the cap and put the medicine away.

As she walked past the table, she saw Christine's bunny, named Hank after her Great-Grandfather who passed away not too long ago, and scooped it up, walking back upstairs and taking a detour by their youngest child's room.

Zachary Henry Booth was born just six months ago and already he was the spitting image of Booth, brown eyes and all. He was a towhead, like Christine had been, and he was perfect in every way. Brennan still marveled over how she and Booth could bring something so sweet in precious into this world, even after having both him and Christine, who was an exceptional big sister. She adored Zach and loved nothing more than holding and playing with him. She was even coaching him so that his first word would be her name. He was far from pronouncing anything close to her name, though. Maybe in a couple months…

Brennan smiled softly at the child and ran her finger through his hair, thanking…_whoever_, whether it be in the deity she didn't believe in or the Universe, she didn't know, but she thanked whoever it was for both Zach and Christine, because she honestly didn't know where she'd be without them or Booth in her life.

Brennan leaned down to place a soft kiss on her baby's forehead before exiting the room and making her way across the hall to Christine's.

"Hey," she said, waving Hank in front of her, "look who I found."

Christine's eyes lit up. "Hank!" Brennan handed her the bunny, which she hugged tightly. "I forgot all about him!"

Brennan smiled. "You left him in my office," she explained. Christine smiled up at her over the bunny's head and Brennan smiled back, marveling over how much of herself and Booth she could see. Of course she knew how genetics worked and how obvious it would be that she looked like them both, but it still surprised her that here was this child that she claimed she would never have not ten years ago, now six years old.

"Come on, Mommy! Sit!" Christine ordered, pulling her mother out of her reverie, literally, and making her sit in one of the pink plastic chairs, between her and Booth.

Christine then ran to rummage in her play clothes and pulled out a feathery purple boa and a comically large pair of sunglasses for Brennan to wear.

Brennan put them on without question, accepting them as the outfit of choice for their tea parties, before reaching for her own tea and putting it to her lips.

"Pinky!" Christine reminded her and Brennan's pinky popped up as she winked at the little girl.

Booth watched with amusement as he sipped his own coffee and started talking to his partner about her day, Christine's radio blasting rock music.

At one point, the song changed and Christine stood up, smiling. "Listen!" she said. Booth and Brennan stopped talking to listen, smiles lighting up both their faces as they recognized the opening chords to Hot-Blooded.

Booth grinned at Brennan and began singing;

"Well, I'm hot-blooded, check it and see.

I've got a fever of 103!"

Brennan continued, standing up and looking at Christine:

"Come on baby, can you do more than dance?"

Christine: "I'm hot-blooded. Hot-_blooded_!"

All three stood and began dancing then, leaving their coffee and tea on the little table as Booth twirled Christine around like a ballerina and pulled Brennan against his side. Both girls giggled and Booth chuckled as they continued dancing, sickness be damned.

**Is that fluffy enough for you? I hope it is because it may just be enough to get me back into me regular writing. REVIEWS also help…**


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